Latino parents learn to be on the lookout for drugs in their homes

ENCINITAS -- Pay attention. That was the message local activists
in Encinitas' Latino community tried to drive home at a bilingual
conference for drug prevention Thursday night at the Church of St.
John the Evangelist.

More than 80 Latino parents and their children of all ages
listened -- and occasionally gasped in shock -- as Officer Torrey
Cluett of the Carlsbad Police Department presented a two-hour
demonstration on the effects of drugs and signs parents should look
for to prevent drug abuse among their children.

"My job out here is to scare you," said Cluett, who has
presented more than 20 similar drug awareness conferences over the
past two years as part of the Carlsbad Police Department's "Parent
Project."

Cluett walked the audience through the dangers and signs of
abuse for what he said were the most common drugs in the Latino
community: marijuana, cocaine and heroin.

"Half the battle of keeping kids off the stuff is finding out if
they're around it," he told parents, urging them to check their
children's rooms and watch for changes in behavior.

To reinforce his point he passed around a collection of
confiscated drug paraphernalia, including rolling papers, water
pipes and seemingly innocent items like a bottle of soda and a can
of hair spray altered with false bottoms to hide drugs inside.

One problem, according to Villarreal, is that children who
choose to use drugs in the Latino community come from families
where parents are working constantly -- often at multiple jobs --
and are often not around to monitor their children or talk with
them about such choices.

"These kids are growing up by themselves," she said, adding that
this situation is bound to "create lots of problems in the
future."

Many parents in attendance complained that information about
drug prevention is often not available in Spanish, and some noted
that even the divide between bilingual children and their
Spanish-speaking parents can be problematic.

"They've got their own things going on and they're not thinking
about trying to explain it to their parents," said Alicia Gonzalez,
44, who volunteers with Mano a Mano and attended the event to learn
more about the temptations her 18- and 11-year-old sons face.

Others, such as Hector Rodriguez, whose 21-year-old son has long
struggled with addiction and recently relapsed after a year of
counseling, have learned the hard way and are simply trying not to
repeat their mistakes.

"So many of these items I've seen at home before," said
Rodriguez, who said he worries about the decisions his 14-year-old
son will make. "And now I know why."

Thursday's conference was the second such meeting Villarreal has
organized for Latino parents in North County since founding Mano a
Mano in January. In March, she organized a daylong conference on
immigrants' right to public education with Organizacion Gane,
another local advocacy group. Mano a Mano also holds weekly support
groups for Latino families at St. John's to teach them how to build
strong families and inform them of community resources.

Villarreal ran similar programs for Latino students and their
parents in the San Dieguito Union High School District for 11 years
until last fall, when her contract with the district was not
renewed.

She said that resources for non-English-speaking families is
necessary for both the well-being of the families and for the
community.

"I need them to open their eyes," she said. "They're totally
blind about these things. This way they can learn more and teach
their kids."